I absolutely adored Whistle for the Crows by Dorothy Eden. The way that Eden creates her settings, the reader instantly falls right into the story like you are right alongside the characters living with them. This book is technically a romance, but it’s more heavily based on mystery with a side dish of romance.

Cathleen Lamb takes a job as a secretary to an old woman, Miss Matilda O’Riordan, who is trying to write a book about her family’s history, who used to be an important family. Cathleen had recently lost her baby, Debby, and her husband, Jonathan, and this is her first job since then. When she arrives to have an interview with the dragonish lady Miss O’Riordan, Cathleen finds a threatening letter on the floor. This was her first sign that maybe she shouldn’t take this job. However, of course she does. While living in the castle where Miss O’Riordan (Also known as Aunt Tilly) lives with her niece, Kitty, and her nephews, Rory and Liam, Cathleen discovers some mysterious things. The mystery really starts when she begins hearing a baby cry in the middle of the night when there are no children living there. When she tries to investigate, she finds she is stopped from all angles and is told she is crazy and just hearing her dead baby crying in her head. However, she discovers that everyone living there is keeping secrets. Who is this mysterious baby? Or is she just hearing things like everyone keeps telling her? Why all the secrets?

This book seems very tame when you are used to reading the modern romances of this era. The way that Eden was a pioneer of her time writing these romance novels is quite commendable. She has a way of drawing the reader in and keeping them captivated, even if they were hoping to read a romance. I would give Whistle for the Crows 4 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book for anyone that likes a mystery book and also to anyone that likes romances. Even though this book is not dripping with romance, it is still a feel good romance. ( )